Fig. 70.—Saxon slinger.
PLATE VI*
Italian Rondache, Sixteenth Century
A. F. Calvert
The Saxon Helmet was commonly of the Phrygian shape, but examples are plentiful of the hemispherical, the conical, and the combed hemispherical, side by side with the Phrygian. The foundation of the helmet was a framework of bronze or iron bands riveted together, of which the principal was the piece passing round the head, and that reaching from the forehead over the head to its junction with the plate at the back. These two were of thicker material than the rest. Occasionally the latter band was produced so as to form a nasal which became universal at the end of the tenth century. Upon this sub-structure a leather cap of varying forms was fixed, sometimes with ornamental additions in leather crowning it. The commonest form is seen in [Fig. 75], while other varieties are perceived in Figs. [71], [76], and [77].